SEC Football Update, Memphis Style!

Posted: May 05, 2008

Ron Higgins was on fire over the weekend. He's one of the best writers about SEC football newspaper writers outside of Tony Barnhart. (For those of you just finding out about Ron, please read our interview/profile with him.)

Now that the spring games are over, Ron has everything covered so that all of you SEC diehards can get a little taste before the real thing starts in August.

Higgins starts with his Eastern Division and Western Division breakdowns which are both great reading.

He also hits on the point that the SEC has four ex-NFL head coaches. It's hard for the rest of the country to understand the fervor of SEC football and what it means until someone reads this. In each case these coaches had plum jobs with important NFL franchises. (Two of them, the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins, are in the ranks of the NFL's most valuable and marketable.)

In each case (Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Rich Brooks, and Bobby Petrino), it wasn't a hard choice returning to college knowing what the SEC has to offer a coach.

- In the NFL ,you get paid like a king. In the SEC, you get treated like a king (if you win).

- The NFL has one Mt Rushmore of coaching. Each SEC school has its own Mt Rushmore of coaching.

Now, that the SEC pays as well as the pros, it's hard to say no. That's also the reason that Tribal Fever defended Bobby Petrino's move to Arkansas. Chances like an SEC head coaching job only come around once or twice (Spurrier and Saban) in a career.

As the competition rises in SEC play, coaches are looking for every advantage they can find. The latest point of change involves offensive-minded head coaches giving up their playcalling duties. Mark Richt started the trend last year with great success. Now, Steve Spurrier is doing the same for next season.

Two that will still be calling the plays are Bobby Petrino at Arkansas and Houston Nutt at Ole Miss. TF thinks that both of these men are coming off of situations where too much control was in someone else's hands. They probably want to regain that feel that comes with having their hands on the tiller.

With both Tennessee and Auburn bringing in new OCs with high scoring resumes, the OC has become a flashpoint for fans. Like their pro counterparts, SEC coaches have already realized that changing coordinators is good way to take off the heat that comes with a disappointing season. These OCs are a buffer for the head coach, one that provides further job security.